NHL Betting Picks October 13th

It was a great start to the season for my NHL picks yesterday. The Senators were able to continue to come back against Auston Matthews and company before finally taking the lead in OT, while the Blues thoroughly outplayed the Blackhawks en route to an easy W.

Detroit Red Wings @ Tampa Bay Lightning

Kucherov is signed and the Lightning are completely healthy for once, which makes this team among the most dangerous in the NHL. Stamkos, Drouin, Kucherov, Hedman and Stralman all participated for their countries in the World Cup, so they should be ready to come out of the gate firing this season. Stamkos has stated that they have no excuses not to have a hot start due to their team being completely intact and I expect them to do just that.

Hedman and Stralman are two of the best and most underrated defensemen in the league and at home I don’t think they will have any trouble shutting down the top lines of the Wings in this game. Both of these defensemen have a ridiculous 61+% goals for differential even strength with among the best goals against per 60 minutes in the entire league.

I also think that the Lightning forwards will make it incredibly tough on the Wings relatively weak and inexperienced defense corps tonight and I think the Lightning are a pretty safe bet even though they’re big favourites.

Carolina Hurricanes @ Winnipeg Jets

I’m expecting the Scheifele, Wheeler and Ehlers line to pick up right where they left off from last season and that will cause big problems for the Hurricanes back end. There’s not a single player on the Hurricanes defense that had above a 48% goals differential even strength last year and I expect the Scheifele line to be able to attack whoever is on the ice for the opposition.

I don’t have the Jets as a playoff team again this year, but this is a very winnable game at home to kick off the season.

Anaheim Ducks @ Dallas Stars

The Ducks stumbled out of the gate last season and I don’t expect them to make the same mistake this time around. Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf should be in mid season form after helping Canada to the gold medal at the World Cup a few weeks ago, while the same cannot be said for the top end players on the Dallas Stars.

Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin both missed the World Cup due to injury so I’m skeptical as to what level they will be at out of the gate. I think this is a great spot to attack the Stars until we’re sure they are at the level from a year ago.